At least 12 Jamaat-backed candidates emerge victorious in Wednesday’s upazila parishad elections
The results of the first phase of the upazila parishad polls show that Jamaat-e-Islami was benefitted by various problems within the ranks of the other major parties; namely Awami League, BNP and the Jatiya Party.
At least 12 Jamaat-backed candidates emerged victorious in Wednesday’s elections, some of them in areas known as BNP and JaPa strongholds.
Jamaat’s achievement came as a surprise to many, especially because the party had been widely blamed for the street violence in the months preceding the January 5 elections and is often linked with committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
In Bogra, known as a BNP monopoly, there are ample reasons for the BNP leaders to consider Jamaat a threat to their popularity. Jamaat-backed chairman candidates emerged victorious in at least three upazilas where BNP-backed candidates were expected to win.
Apart from Bogra, in at least seven other upazilas around the country, Jamaat-backed candidates came out second behind BNP in some places and Awami League in others.
Initially, BNP decided to leave those three seats to Jamaat in Bogra. However, in the face of protest by its grassroots leaders, BNP changed its decision and left only one for their ally.
Local leaders said the presence of “rebel” candidates in two of those three upazilas divided BNP’s voters and eventually made it easy for the Jamaat leaders to come out on top.
Joynal Abedin Chan, general secretary of Bogra district unit BNP, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone: “BNP’s intra-party feud and the betrayal of Jamaat [who allegedly violated a written agreement with its ally BNP] led to the party-backed candidates’ poor result in the district.”
Historically, the BNP has never been very strong in Rangpur, the northernmost district of the country and also the homes of JaPa Chairman HM Ershad and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s in-laws.
Interestingly, only one JaPa-backed candidate won in Wednesday’s first phase of the upazila polls, that too not in Rangpur, but in Gaibandha. What is more interesting is that one of the two upazilas that went into polls, one was clinched by a Jamaat contender and the other by an independent candidate.
Abul Masud Chowdhury Nantu, general secretary of Rangpur district unit JaPa, said: “The result in the upazila polls is a reflection of the rift created among the party ranks surrounding the January 5 national election.”
In some uapzilas, “rebel” candidates winning by big margins or coming out second behind the rival parties’ candidates show that both Awami League and BNP have made some mistake in picking candidates.
Gopalganj – home of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – has always been known as an Awami League stronghold. But the party unexpectedly lost one of the two upazilas in the district in Wednesday’s polls. In Moksedpur, an independent candidate defeated two Awami League candidates – one backed by the party and one rebel.
Qazi Ohid, organising secretary of Moksedpur upazila unit Awami League, said there had been some resentments among the party ranks because the local unit had been run by the same old committee for over a decade.
Shaikh Atiar Rahman, a local Jubo League leader, said because the party had chosen the wrong candidate, the 65% Hindu voters who always play crucial role in any election got divided. He said this was reflected in the results.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
Now BNP is number one and its ally, the Jamaat, the largest Islamic party is number three political party in Bangladesh.
Advocate Aminul Hoq Milon from Dhaka:20.02.2014.Second place occupier pro Indian and anti-Islamic Awami League has, therefore no chance to get in power despite Indian backing. Hence Awami League wanted BNP to leave its alliance with the Jamaat. But when the BNP said no the Awami League wanted to ban the Jamaat as the enemy of the state, enemy of the independence using the highly politicied judiciary as tool. But the following Local Election result despite some irregularities spells it out that Awami League’s fear of losing power and remaining outside power for a very long spell was not groundless. In recently held 7 City Mayoral election Awami League could not capture even one and that caused a panic both in New Delhi and inside Hasina’s Gonovobon Den. Most indigenous and foreign media have been predicting that in any fair election Awami League will lose. Hasina and her ministers repeated insult that Khaleda was a Pakistani spy and the Jamaat is working under Pakistani guidance, both were the enemies\of the country and they should leave Bangladesh and go to Pakistan has angered the ordinary peace loving people and they voted in favour of both Jamaat and the BNP. And the same will happen if and when a fair election takes place. After this Local Election it is now almost certain that in a fair General Election Awami will lose heavily. Bangladeshi news paper PROTHOM ALO’s prediction proved correct in both the Mayoral & sub Districts Local Election.
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BANGLA LOCAL ELECTION RESULT IN BRIEF: 97 Sub districts Election Result
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PARTY : Chairman : Vice Chairman : Women Vice Chair : Grand Total-
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BNP : 43 : 32 : 34 : 109
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Awami League : 34 : 24 : 34 : 92
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Jamaat : 13 : 23 : 10 : 46
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J.P. : 1 : 3 : 1 : 5
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Others : 5 : 10 : 3 : 18
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